The U.S. Forest Service dayuse motor permits for Saganaga Lake have been going quick. At the start of the season there were plenty of permits available each week, but lately they have been running out fast. I checked the availability on a Sunday and there were 52 permits available for the week—the next day they were gone. There has been a lot of traffic on the lake lately, but it is hard to believe the permits could disappear overnight. If you plan to fish Saganaga any time soon it would be wise to reserve a day-use motor permit for $6. You can do it on-line at www.Recreation.gov or simply stop by the Forest Service station.
The fishing on Northern Light Lake has been really hot this week. I fished it last Sunday and we took the portage wheeled boat across. I would not call it easy, but my customers agreed that it was not that bad to push our boat over the hump. It was certainly faster than the alternatives and from start to finish was about 15 minutes. My only worry is that someday, something might break and I would be stranded on the portage with a flat tire. Worst-case scenario we would have to strip the boat down and drag it back to the lake.
The fishing was pretty good that day, but we did not catch very many walleyes in the morning. In the late afternoon we decided to make a run to Hoof Creek and filled out pretty fast. Plenty of fish between 20-26 inches are biting in the North Channel and plenty of eaters have been found near the creeks. We caught a lot of northern pike and smallmouth bass as well. I like pitching jigs but the lindy rigs were getting more bites for sure.
Saganaga has also been pretty good lately with a lot of the smaller fish showing up. It has taken a long time for Sag to get going this year and I thought it was due to the late ice. The only thing that does not make sense is that the fish on Northern Light have been right on schedule. The two lakes are only separated by 100 feet of land yet they could not be more different from each other. Sag has clearer water and gradually sloping shorelines in the bays. Northern Light has darker water and steeper shorelines in the bays. Northern Light has a much healthier population of fish even though it gets a lot more fishing pressure than Sag. I do not understand why they are so different but they are. The water is getting warm enough so that it is getting hard to keep the minnows alive all day. I like to keep a five-gallon bucket on board half-full of fresh lake water, then I will put about a dozen minnows in it from the main bait bucket. I keep the main minnow bucket in the lake longer and I can easily catch the exact minnow I want to use with a little net. The minnows in the main bucket do not get violated by hands as often and they seem to live longer.
Leeches have been working just fine and they are much easier to care for than minnows. It is hard to leave the dock without both and some night crawlers as well. Leeches work well under a bobber, minnows and crawlers work better with jig-heads and they all work on lindy-rigs. Slowly back trolling the pockets and shorelines has been the best producer lately. Sometimes you can go down the same shoreline three times and start getting bites on that third pass. Persistence pays, especially if you just know there should be some fish there.
Cory Christianson has worked as a fishing guide on the Gunflint Trail since 2000. If you have any fishing or wildlife reports or stories to share, send an email to: christiansoncory@hotmail.com or call 218-388- 0315. You can also visit Cory’s website at Gunflintfishingguide.com.
Leave a Reply